The curing of epoxide, vinyl ether, and N-vinyl monomers in the presence of catalysts is well known in the art. For example, epoxides can be cured in the presence of boron trifluoride and complexes thereof and vinyl alkyl ethers can be polymerized in the presence of aluminum trichloride and related Lewis acids. While the use of such acid catalysts has been found to be advantageous in many cases, their use is often objectionable because many acid catalysts are highly corrosive to various substrates, such as metals. Other catalysts are objectionable because of their volatility. The present invention provides catalysts which are highly effective, substantially non-corrosive, and essentially non-volatile.
In one aspect, this invention provides a novel class of substituted ethylene compounds useful as catalysts for curing monomers. These ethylenes are non-acidic, therefore non-corrosive, and they are non-volatile during use. Some of the substituted ethylenes can be used in admixture with the monomers to provide latently curable compositions having a desirably long shelf or pot life.
In another aspect, the invention provides novel precursor methanes useful in preparing the substituted ethylenes of the invention.
Certain precursor methanes useful in the chemical reaction to obtain the novel fluoroaliphaticsulfonyl substituted ethylenes of the invention are known. Examples include bis(perfluoroalkylsulfonyl)methanes disclosed in a paper presented by H. A. Brown to the American Chemical Society in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in September 1955, bis(perfluoromethylsulfonyl)methane, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,732,398 and by Gramstad and Haszeldine in Journal of Chemical Soc., 4069 (1957), and bis(perfluoroalkylsulfonyl)methanes, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,281,472. Likewise, somewhat related substituted ethylenes are known, e.g., bis(alkylsulfonyl) ethylenes and perfluoromethyl sulfonyl ethylenes see U.S. Pat. No. 3,335,188 and L. M. Yagupolski and A. G. Pateleimonov in Zh. Obshch. Khim., 36, (3) 416 (1966), respectively, but these substituted ethylenes are considerably weaker than the substituted ethylenes of the invention, if at all effective, in catalyzing epoxide, vinyl ether, and N-vinyl monomer polymerization.